{We are trying to enjoy and record the moments that make life special}

Alex had a “crazy hair day” at preschool the last week of school, he was so excited! He has heard his Dad talk about putting gel in his hair and he asked me to make a mohawk (unfortunately no mole-hill hair this time) with “jello” in his hair, you know – to make it stay that way. I, of course, answered that yes, we could make a mohawk with jello in your hair.

You wouldn’t know it by the weather right now (raining and probably in the low 60’s, where is summer, or spring for that matter, this year?) – but it is supposedly summer. And summer means strawberry jam! We picked up some fresh local organic strawberries at the farmer’s market and I decided to make strawberry jam with Alex while Sara was napping (she’s settled into a nice toddler routine of sleeping after lunch for about 2-3 hours most days, sometimes less, sometimes more. Glorious!).

It would be a fun project with all the right things for a 4 year old. I think Alex’s favorite part was cutting the tops off of the strawberries (gasp!). He did an amazing job and was very good with a knife. All it took was a little leap of faith on my part, some close undivided attention, the right maturity level, and a boy who WANTED so badly to do it he was willing to listen and learn.

We had so much fun and ended up making some really kickin’ strawberry jam. Yum!

First we cleaned and cut off the tops of the strawberries, then pulsed them a bit in the Cuisinart to chop them up a bit. Of course, you have to try them – just to make sure they are good.

I follow the MCP Pectin recipe – but, I have learned you have to follow the recipe exactly or else it doesn’t gel. You would think that A+B+C+D = ABCD jam, but if you go in this order A+C+B+D = strawberry syrup (not jam). So, if you try it – follow the instructions…

And, of course, the best part – make sure it’s not “poisonous”. You have to try it! And it’s delish! Fresh strawberry freezer jam is one of the best things on earth. It is the taste of summer – directly in your mouth.

Just for the record, it was his idea – Father’s Day at the Zoo with the family. Boy, we sure had a great day, and we were all tired! What a great Dad Lance is!

So much enthusiasm when we first arrived, we had an excited-to-get-out-of-the-car Sara, a boy-on-a-mission-to-see-animals Alex, who wanted to wear his back pack at all times to carry his water bottle , and two ready parents.

First, we stopped at the dinosaurs exhibit. Alex was entranced by these real life like dinosaurs, in fact, I think he thought they were real! Especially, only moments after I took this photo, the dinosaur spit water at him! He was NOT happy about that, not really scared, just wasn’t expecting it.

Lance was paying for us and we went on ahead, little did he know he was about to get a surprise too, a short ~3 seconds before this picture was taken.

Dino spit! Eeeewwww!

Then came the T-rex. It was big! Alex wanted to get up closer, so he got on Lance’s shoulders, but realized that it was a bit too close, and got a bit scared. No worries, though. Just a little space was all that was needed to calm down.

Sara was thinking, "OK Dad, you take the picture for Mom, but I’m keeping my eyes on this thing. Has this thing had lunch yet? I hope so!”

We meandered our way to the giraffes and paid the $$ to have myself and Alex feed the giraffes. Fair warning to anyone going to the zoo, the dinosaurs cost extra, the giraffes cost extra, and the willowong station (bird feeding) all cost extra.

They were so tall that we were up on a platform. We each got to feed the giraffes a few times and they showed us their long tongues. It was a very cool experience – my favorite for sure. When we were coming home, we asked Alex what his favorite was and he said Dinosaurs.

We saw some Komodo dragons and took a nice Father’s Day photo perched on top of a statue.

And then the beloved carousel – Sara’s first time with us at the zoo and first time on the carousel!

I have such good memories of taking Alex on the carousel back in 2008!

And now look how big he is!

We had lunch and walked around to see as many animals as we could, and came home with two tired kiddos!

And most shocking of them all – Lance was so tired out when we got home he took a ~30 minute nap. Almost unheard of for him!

We welcomed Jim (Connie’s Son), Denise (Jim’s wife), Mickey, Joaquin (kiddos of Jim and Denise), Connie and Steve to join us at the beach this past weekend! We haven’t seen them for ~ 3 years since Hawaii in 2008! Boy – time flies! They were in town from So. California. How peaceful and quiet this beach must be compared to the beaches down there!

Alex was so excited to see Mickey and Joaquin – as we have watched the movies from Hawaii many times and Alex has very fond memories of playing with them. He and Mickey are like two peas in a pod.

Sara was just as happy as usual, playing with rocks (her favorite to put in her mouth) and buckets and shovels.

We bought these two floaties that had squirt guns that we thought would be fun. The water turned out to be not as cold as you would think and the kids did decide to brave the waters. And have some fun!

My little “butt-cheek” boy with a peek of his cheeks sticking out of his shorts that just won’t stay up.

“the old days” kids would just float on a log instead of these “floatie” things… So, we did that too!

Which was all fun… until someone fell in and got really wet (and then really cold!).

So, we got him all warmed and dried up.

And there was a FORT. Oh – Alex has “discovered” the fort at the beach. Over the years it has grown, changed, been added to – but Alex never really noticed. But, now he knows. He and the kids (Cousin Gwen joined us too!) played for hours over there. Happily.

First – the old bathroom. Not horrible (no carpet or anything), but not great either. There were daffodils on the blue tile, and the grout was failing. The knobby thing that let the water drain (or hold it in for the bathtub) was broken, the sink had chips in it (sharp chips), and the toilet was not adequate, didn’t flush much…

So, one of the things on our goals this year was to re-do our kids bath/guest bath.

We set a budget and set out getting estimates and plans. It was fairly easy since I was just going to go with the same tile we had in our Master bath 3 years earlier.

It’s so hard to pick what is my favorite…

The shower head with the hose, the new lighting, the new cabinet/granite/sink/faucet, the new tile flooring, the new toilet that flushes well, or the little touches that I gave it like the whale spout cover, the sticky whales/octopus in the tub, the art, the light blue walls, or the bright blue towels. We still have to put up a couple of shelves, but we are mostly done!

And it’s functional and beautiful. And it was easy, just pull and replace. The contractors were great and we’re in the current century!